Shrub · Rutaceae
Japanese Skimmia
Skimmia japonica
Give it shade and acidic soil, and this evergreen keeps you in fragrant spring flowers and bright winter berries.
Partial shade
Every 5–10 days
USDA 6–8
2–7 ft · 0.6–2.1 m
Overview
Got a shady spot where nothing seems happy? Japanese skimmia is made for it. It's a slow-growing evergreen shrub that actually prefers shade, so those tricky corners suit it fine. It comes from the woodlands of Japan and China and it's part of the citrus family, which is why the spring flowers give off a faintly spicy scent. The glossy dark leaves stick around all year, and little clusters of red buds keep things lively even when it's cold out.
Here's the quirky part: most skimmias are either male or female. That one detail changes how you plant them. The males flower more showily, but only the females carry those bright red berries that hang on through winter. So if you want berries, you'll need a male growing close enough to pollinate the females, which is why people usually plant the two together.
The best bit? Once it's settled in the right place, skimmia barely asks anything of you, and it looks good all year round. Acidic, moist soil and steady shade are pretty much the whole story. Get those wrong and the leaves go yellow or scorch, but get them right and you've got a shrub that pulls its weight in every season.
Care
The short version: part to full shade, acidic humus-rich soil kept evenly moist, and a male plant close by if you're after berries on the females.
Light
Skimmia likes part to full shade, and it's not a fan of direct sun, which scorches the leaves. A spot with dappled light, or morning sun with shade in the afternoon, works nicely. Deep shade is fine too, though you'll get fewer flowers where it's really dark.
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist but well drained, which usually means watering every 5 to 10 days, and a bit more when it's baking out. Its thirst is pretty middle-of-the-road, so it doesn't want to sit soggy. The main thing? Don't let the roots dry out completely when it's hot.
Soil
Give it moist, humus-rich, acidic soil that still drains well. Shoot for a pH of 5.0 to 6.5, so on the acid side, and mix in loads of organic matter. If the soil's too alkaline it locks up iron and the leaves start turning yellow, which is your cue to sort it out.
Temperature
This is a genuinely tough shrub when it comes to cold, holding up from -9°F (-23°C) all the way to about 86°F (30°C). Funnily enough, hot dry heat bothers it way more than frost ever does. That's just one more reason to keep it in the shade.
Humidity
Regular outdoor air is plenty, so there's no humidity number to worry about. The real problem is dry heat, which stresses the plant and rolls out the welcome mat for spider mites. So keeping the soil steadily moist matters a lot more than what the air's doing.
Feeding
In spring, give it a balanced or acid-forming ericaceous fertilizer, the kind made for acid-loving shrubs. Once a season is plenty, since it's such a slow grower and doesn't need much. Nice bonus: the acidic feed helps keep the soil right where skimmia likes it.
Pruning
Not a fan of pruning? You're in luck, because skimmia hardly needs any. Just shape it lightly after flowering to take out anything damaged or growing sideways, and leave the rest alone. It'll fill into a rounded shape on its own.
Repotting
If it's in a pot, move it up every 2 to 3 years into a slightly bigger container with fresh acidic mix. You'll know it's time when roots start circling around or poking out the drainage holes, or when the soil dries out quicker than it used to.
Size & spacing
Give it room, because a grown shrub gets to 2 to 7 feet (61 to 213 cm) tall and actually spreads wider than that, around 3 to 5 feet (91 to 152 cm). Leave that much space and the rounded shape can fill out nicely without elbowing its neighbors.
When to plant
There's no rush with this one. Just pop new plants in the ground in spring or fall while the soil's easy to dig, and then sit back. You'll get fragrant flowers from late winter into spring, and on the female plants the red berries ripen in fall and stick around all winter.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Spring or fall
- Harvest: Fragrant flowers late winter to spring (around April); red berries on female plants ripen in fall and persist through winter
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 6–8
Temperature: down to -23°C
Troubleshooting
Skimmia's a pretty easygoing shrub as long as its roots sit in acidic, shaded soil, so when something goes wrong it's usually down to the wrong spot or a sap-sucking bug. The leaves will basically tell you what's up. Find the match below, and remember to fix the cause, not just the symptom.
Leaves turning yellow though the veins stay green
If a leaf turns yellow but the veins stay green, that's interveinal chlorosis, and it usually means the soil's gone too alkaline for the roots to grab iron. Bad drainage makes it worse. Nudge the pH down with elemental sulfur, feed some chelated iron, and mulch with acidic organic matter, and it'll come right.
Fix:
- Lower soil pH with elemental sulfur or acidifying amendments
- Apply chelated iron and mulch with acidic organic matter
- Improve drainage
Speckled leaves with a little fine webbing
See a bronzy, speckled look on the leaves with thin webbing underneath? That's spider mites, and they love hot, dry weather. Hose the leaves down to knock them loose, then hit them with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil. Keep the plant watered and out of harsh sun and they won't be back in a hurry.
Fix:
- Spray foliage with water to dislodge mites
- Apply insecticidal soap or horticultural oil
- Improve air humidity and avoid drought stress
Sticky leaves, little bumps on the stems, and sooty mold
Sticky honeydew and a layer of black sooty mold mean something's sucking the sap, usually scale as little raised waxy bumps or aphids clustered on the soft new growth. Snip off the worst stems first. Then smother the scale with horticultural oil and wash the aphids off with insecticidal soap.
Fix:
- Prune out heavily infested stems
- Apply horticultural oil to smother scale
- Use insecticidal soap for aphids
Browned, washed-out patches on the sunlit side
Skimmia's a shade plant, so leaves that brown or bleach are almost always getting too much direct sun. You'll see it on the sunny side while the shaded leaves stay green. Move it somewhere shadier, or give it morning sun with afternoon shade, and a bit of mulch helps take the edge off.
Fix:
- Provide part to full shade or morning sun with afternoon shade
- Transplant to a shadier site if needed
- Mulch and water to reduce stress
Toxicity
Here's the serious bit, but it's easy to stay on top of. Skimmia is poisonous, because the leaves and those bright red berries hold alkaloids called skimmianine plus some glycosides. The berries are the thing to watch, since they look so good you can see why a kid or a pet would try one. Swallow them and you're looking at vomiting and drooling, and a big amount can reach the heart and nerves, so keep the fruit away from children, pets, and grazing animals.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds · People
Cats Toxic
The leaves and berries have skimmianine in them, so a cat that nibbles a bit tends to drool and throw up. And if it gets a big mouthful? That can push into a racing or unsteady heartbeat.
Dogs Toxic
A dog that chews the leaves or those red berries usually starts drooling and vomiting pretty quick. Eat enough and the alkaloids start messing with the heart and nerves, so it's best to keep it away.
Horses Toxic
If a horse grazes the leaves or fruit, it'll end up drooling, off its food, and queasy, and a big helping brings heart and nervous trouble on top of that.
Rabbits Toxic
These alkaloids just aren't safe for a little grazer. Even a small bit of leaf or berry can set off drooling and a churning gut, so keep skimmia well out of a rabbit's reach.
Livestock Toxic
Cattle, sheep, and goats don't handle the leaves or berries well, and you'll see salivation and digestive upset that can tip into heart and nervous effects after a big feed.
Birds Toxic
The berries look like an easy meal, but the skimmianine in them is poisonous. A bird that swallows the fruit can get sick, so it's really best treated as off limits.
People Caution
None of this plant is food, and the showy red berries are the real risk for a curious kid. Swallow them and you get nausea and a sore stomach, with heart effects possible after a large amount.
Keep berries away from children and pets; wash hands after handling.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
A few named skimmias come up over and over, and honestly, picking one just comes down to what you're after: flowers, berries, or both. Here are the ones worth knowing about.
Rubella
A male clone people love for its dark red flower buds that hold their color all winter and then open into fragrant white flowers, though it won't set berries of its own.
Nymans
A female cultivar that puts on heavy crops of big, bright red berries, as long as there's a male nearby to pollinate it.
Fragrans
A male cultivar that's all about the strong scent of its white flower panicles in spring.
Companions
Skimmia thrives next to other shade-loving, acid-soil plants that ask for the same conditions, which makes it an easy fit in a woodland border.
Plant near
Rhododendron: Shares the same acidic soil and part-shade conditions.
Camellia: Both are shade-tolerant broadleaf evergreens that thrive in acidic, moist, well-drained soil.
Hosta: Pairs well as a shade-garden understory companion with similar moisture needs.
How to propagate
Want more skimmia? You can go from cuttings or seed, but most people take cuttings, since they keep the parent's traits and, handily, its sex.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Late summer to fall · Several weeks to a few months to root
Cuttings are the dependable way to go. Take semi-hardwood cuttings in late summer or fall and root them somewhere humid, and they'll settle in over several weeks to a few months. Just keep in mind that a cutting keeps the parent's sex, so you'll still want both a male and a female plant nearby for berries.
SeedModerate
Fall, from ripe berries · Germination can be slow and seedlings take years to mature
You can sow seed cleaned from ripe berries in fall, but be ready to wait. Germination is slow, the seedlings take years to reach flowering size, and they come up all different, so you won't know if one's male or female until it finally blooms.
Myths
Any old skimmia will bear red berries all by itself.
Skimmia's mostly dioecious, which just means plants come as separate males and females, and only the females make fruit. You need a male growing nearby to pollinate them, roughly one male for every six females if you want a decent crop, so a lone plant or a male by itself won't give you any berries at all. Easy to fix once you know.